novelraw Chapter 4 : Chapter 4
Chapter 4 : Chapter 4
Chapter 4. Black
The moment the ability-sealing handcuff on my wrist was cut in half.
Sizzzle-
'It's coming back.'
The power that had been suppressed in this body began to return.
But the return of my power didn't solve everything.
Because I knew nothing about the power Riman possessed.
Almost no information about him had been revealed in the game.
But there was one clue to go on.
I'd seen a record that before Riman acquired the title 'Black God', he was called by the title 'Maje'.
'If the character 'Ma' is in a title, it's almost certainly related to magic.'
In other words, it was certain that 'magic' made up a significant portion of the power Riman possessed.
'If I'm to counterattack now, my only means is magic.'
So the moment the handcuff broke.
I quickly performed the calculations for a spell in my head.
Of course, I had never used magic in the true sense of the word.
The only magic I had ever used was by pressing buttons on a controller.
But I was a veteran who had devoured all the lore of
I already knew how magic worked.
'Magic begins with an image.'
Extract a concept through the overlapping of images.
Symbolize the extracted concept to begin the calculation.
Transmute mana through the calculation.
And project my will onto the world by deploying the transmuted mana.
That was 'magic' as it was understood in this world.
Through this process, I attempted the spell I used most often.
The magic of the 'Electromancer', the class I had played for the longest time.
'A withered tree branch, the tip of a rusted needle.'
From the overlap of these two images, one spell was drawn out.
Even though I had never actually performed magic before, this body instantly constructed the mana and manifested the spell.
As naturally as breathing-
A single spell was completed.
[Discharge]
Crackle…!
The magic that transmutes mana into electrical power, [Discharge].
Black electric shock began to pour out from my right hand.
Seeing it, Kyle's face turned white.
I had a gut feeling.
That this was the moment.
The instant Kyle flinched in bewilderment.
I dove into his embrace.
And with the hand gripping the black lightning, I powerfully struck Kyle's abdomen.
CRACKLE!
“Kuaaah…!”
The black electric shock began to fry Kyle's body.
* * *
CRACKLE!
I tenaciously grabbed onto Kyle's lapels and didn't let go.
I knew that if I finished this half-heartedly, I would be the one to get taken down.
The black electric shock thoroughly seared Kyle's entire body, and his body gradually stiffened.
It was muscle contraction due to electrocution.
“Grrrgh…!”
Kyle felt his consciousness fading away.
Yet he somehow managed to hold onto his sword, but-
“Gurgle…”
Clatter.
In the end, he couldn't overcome the electric shock and dropped his sword.
The moment the swordsman gave up his sword.
I also let go of Kyle's body.
Fizzle-
As I withdrew my mana, the black lightning also died down.
At the same time, Kyle's body collapsed onto the floor.
Completely unconscious.
His limbs were still, but a faint pulse was still alive.
I could tell without needing to check his pulse or listen to his heartbeat.
Because I could feel everything, hear everything.
My senses, which had been sharp even with the handcuffs on, were now practically running wild after they were removed.
My sensory organs were greedily sucking in all the surrounding stimuli.
I could hear everything, feel everything.
The breathing of the soldiers trapped in the break room, the friction of the control stick turning, the sound of fuel flowing inside the pipes, the pulsation of the engine.
Even the flow of the air and mana within the cabin.
All of it poured into my head.
'Ugh…'
I desperately suppressed my rampaging senses with all my might.
Just like deliberately blurring my vision by unfocusing my eyes, I forcibly dulled my body's senses.
'…This works.'
After barely managing to calm myself down like that.
I looked down at Kyle.
And I picked up Kyle's sword.
A straight sword with a blade just over a meter long.
I aimed the tip of the sword at Kyle's chest.
And just as I was about to stab it down like a stake.
'Wait, what am I doing right now?!'
Clang!
I threw the sword to the floor and took a step back.
Just now, I had tried to kill a person without a second thought.
As naturally as breathing.
This body completely lacked the aversion to killing that an ordinary person should have.
Of course, in this world, one had to be able to kill without hesitation if necessary.
I was just surprised that there was no psychological brake at all in the process of reaching that point of murder.
And above all…
'I can't kill him.'
Because if Kyle died here, things would surely get seriously complicated.
'The moment Kyle dies, Lancelot will be on my tail. I can't ruin the freedom I worked so hard to get this soon.'
Even as I thought this, I felt a sense of incongruity.
That my fundamental personality was gradually changing.
'Is this the influence of this body?'
Riman Solaris, the world's worst criminal.
His memories did not remain in this body.
But consciousness and the body cannot be completely separated.
'The lingering traces of Riman Solaris in this body are affecting me.'
Come to think of it, it was the same when I heard the news of the Rock Point Power Plant terror attack.
A terror attack that resulted in 400,000 deaths.
But I had so naturally used that great tragedy as a tool for negotiation.
Without a second thought.
My sensitivity to murder and death had become severely dulled.
'…No, maybe this is for the better.'
This world is cruel.
It's a world where killing people for a few pennies is a common occurrence, and even ordinary citizens carry guns like they're wallets.
To survive in a place like this, it was actually much better to be this cold-blooded and numb to killing.
'Anyway…'
So what do I do with this guy?
I thought, looking down at Kyle.
'What do you mean, what to do. I'll just have to leave him until he wakes up. He's not the type to die from a mere electric shock.'
Thinking so, I sat down on the floor next to Kyle.
And I sat cross-legged and closed my eyes.
I planned to calmly review the abilities of this body, Riman Solaris.
* * *
I first sat down cross-legged.
'First, I need to figure out the state of this body and what I can do with it.'
And after closing my eyes, I carefully examined this body with my sharpened senses.
'It's definitely a body well-suited for using magic.'
Senses sharp enough to fully feel the mana in the air.
On top of that, a terrifyingly fast calculation ability.
It was truly a body optimized for magic.
I didn't know about other abilities yet, but it seemed I could wield considerable power with magic alone.
But there was one thing that bothered me…
'Why did the electric shock manifest as black?'
Electric shocks created by magic are always blue.
Regardless of whether it's a novice mage or a grand mage.
But the electric shock created by this body was black.
Black lightning.
I had never seen anything like this anywhere in the game.
'Could it be related to why he's called the Black God?'
But it didn't seem to be very different from normal lightning.
For now, it didn't seem like a major issue to worry about.
'Still, what a relief. To think I just blindly threw out an electric-type spell and it actually activated.'
Mages in this world can usually only use magic of one type.
If it's lightning, it's lightning; if it's fire, it's fire; if it's ice, it's ice.
But seeing as I could use [Discharge] without any trouble, it seemed this body was at least of the lightning type.
'If I had used Ignition instead of Discharge back then, I might have been the one to get hurt.'
What if I had really used Ignition during the fight earlier?
I casually thought of the image of ignition.
Crumbling fallen leaves, a flashing gleam.
It was just an image I thought of without much thought.
But-
Fwoosh!
A black flame bloomed at the tip of my finger.
“Huh?”
[Ignition]
A fire-type magic that converts mana into fire.
A magic completely unrelated to the lightning type bloomed at my fingertips.
“What the…?”
I doubted my eyes.
Two magic types were being realized in a single body.
The simultaneous activation of magic from different types.
This was something that had been proven to be absolutely impossible in this world.
But the fundamental principle that constituted this world was crumbling at my fingertips.
“I can use both lightning and fire types?!”
I stared at the black flame flickering at my fingertips.
Come to think of it, this flame was also black.
Black lightning, black flame.
On a whim, I tried to activate magic of another type.
'A shattered mirror, coldly stiffened corpses.'
From these two images, a single spell was cast.
[Freeze]
Crack!
A thin layer of ice covered my palm.
A layer of ice with the sleek black luster of obsidian.
“…Whoa.”
This made it certain.
A multi-type user.
With this body, it was possible to use magic of various types.
'This is insane…!'
This was an innovation on a level that openly chewed up the laws of this world.
An enormous potential that could open a new horizon for magic was latent in this body.
To put it simply-
'This is a broken cheat character, isn't it?!'
Of course, I still didn't know why all the magic was activated in a black color.
But it didn't seem to matter much.
For now, the function of each spell was working properly.
'As expected, you have to be at least this level to earn the final boss tag.'
But the joy of realizing this tremendous ability was short-lived.
“Ugh…”
A faint groan escaped from Kyle's mouth.
His consciousness was slowly returning.
“Hmm…”
I ran calculations in my head on what to do with that guy Kyle.
'I can't kill him. But another fight wouldn't be good either. In that case…'
At that moment.
A box placed in the corner of the cabin suddenly caught my eye.
A box containing military rations.
A good idea came to mind.
* * *
“Ugh…”
Kyle opened his eyes.
And the first thing he saw was me sitting next to him.
“You…”
“Awake?”
I was munching on something.
It was a biscuit.
Kyle asked.
“You… why did you let me live?”
“We're in the same boat anyway, so there's no need for the boatmen to kill each other.”
Munch.
I swallowed the biscuit and continued.
“If you still want to fight me, wait a little. They say you shouldn't bother someone who's eating.”
“……”
“What? You want some too?”
Saying so, I squeezed some seafood jam onto the biscuit.
And again, munch.
Kyle, who had been watching me eat for a while, said.
“…Pass me that tube of seafood jam.”
“Here.”
Kyle also took out a biscuit and started squeezing seafood jam on it to eat.
Seeing that, I inwardly nodded.
'As expected.'
Seafood jam and biscuits.
This was Kyle's favorite snack combination.
I, of course, knew that fact.
And that's why I had deliberately shown myself eating that combination in front of Kyle.
I had intentionally shown him that 'I am also a human who eats to live, just like you.'
'There's no method as effective as a meal for easily breaking down each other's psychological barriers.'
And if the other person's food preference is the same as your own, that barrier breaks down even more easily.
Of course, I didn't think Kyle would become my ally just because of this one performance.
But…
'At the very least, he won't try to kill me.'
In a situation like this, this was enough.
Meanwhile, Kyle thought as he chewed on his biscuit.
'His handcuffs are off, and I've lost my sword. On top of that, I was the one who attacked first. That guy had plenty of reason to kill me. But he didn't.'
Did that guy Riman really have a change of heart?
'…There's no way. Once an evil person, always an evil person.'
But…
'…It should be possible to cooperate temporarily.'
“Hey, Kyle.”
“Yeah?”
“I'm done eating. What are you going to do now?”
Kyle silently picked up his sword.
And he put the sword back into its sheath.
Sheathing the sword.
For a swordsman, that was all that needed to be said.
The transport plane flew peacefully through the sky.
Without any fighting, quietly.